Thoughts at the End of Summer

As I read the paper and listened to the news the past two days, I became incredibly disillusioned and depressed by two events.  The news of chemical warfare in Syria, while not surprising given all the carnage of their “uncivil” war (what war is ever “civil?”) brought the reality of human existence to the fore.    In our church this weekend we hosted Al Staggs who gave us a memorable performance as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young Lutheran/German who returned to Germany from the safety of the US to be with his people and to be a part of the movement to oppose Hitler.  This courage wound up costing him his life.  As he performed I thought of the prison camps, the genocide, and of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and how otherwise good Christians participated in this horrific evil.  Then, to hear and read the reports from Syria brought all of this to an ever greater reality.  

The other was the MTV/VMA award program with the virtual pornographic act of Miley Cyrus.  No, I did not watch this program -- I would rather watch paint dry than MTV and have been that way since it came into existence.  What I did see was some snippets replayed and the shock reaction of those in the news media -- most of whom I thought were beyond any ability to be shocked.  Do these producers have young children?  What do they want their impressionable teens to grow up and emulate, anyway?  To be honest, the moral standards of MTV are non-existent, as their seeming only “god” is the Almighty Dollar.  They are out to make a buck -- and whether they have to sacrifice your children or mine on their altar is immaterial to them.

What are we to make of these events?  Are they connected in any way?  Of course they are, for at bottom they are both indicators of societies which have completely lost their moral compass.  When the standards of right and wrong become completely subjective, then we as a culture lose any sense of morality.  When “I” am the interpreter of my morality, then others are in trouble.  Now, before you lump me in with the Religious Right, understand that nothing could be further from the truth.  I am not that kind of Baptist -- never have been and never will be.  Legalism is the furtherest thing from my personal ethic or the ethic I believe that our society ought to uphold.  My ethical norms lead with grace, with forgiveness, and with kindness, compassion, and service to “the least of these.”  My favorite image of life is that we are all on a journey just trying to enjoy the ride which will end all too soon.  If we treat one another with grace and love, the journey will be a lot better for us all.

Wednesday, August 28th, is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.  On that day in 1963 the USA was faced with our own face of immorality, that of a vicious racism that was endemic to our culture “from sea to shining sea.”  Having lived from the Southeast to the Northwest and in between, I can assure you that racism lived (and still lives) in every hamlet of every state.  It is part of our natural “sin” as human beings that we prefer those of our own tribe and look down upon those of other tribes.  Fifty years later and we have made great progress -- yet vestiges of our tribal past still remain embedded in our souls.  

The reality is that we humans can be vicious and evil creatures who can rationalize/justify any and every action under the sun.  I am sure that King Assad justifies his use by saying that these are rebels who must be destroyed if the country is to survive.  I am sure that MTV justifies their production by saying that this is art and what people want to see.  Decades ago the great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr penned the classic “Moral Man and Immoral Society.”  His basic thesis was that while we may be moral as individuals, when gathered in groups we will do evil that we would never do as individuals.  Niebuhr was right, of course, but in the moment I am having trouble even believing that we are ever moral as individuals.  Brief moments...possibly.  Lifetimes...not so much.

It was C.S. Lewis who, when asked if he believed in total depravity replied, “I believe in sufficient depravity.”  Yes, we are all sufficiently depraved so that we can do anything under the sun for our “cause” and our “people.”  Without a moral compass, without some sort of moral code to guide and correct us, we are nothing more than the blind leading the blind..and God help us all as we stumble into the future.